


Animal Magnetism

by WorryinglyInnocent



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: A Monthly Rumbelling, Dark Castle, F/M, Fluff, Rumbelle - Freeform, enchanted forest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 08:04:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22320193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorryinglyInnocent/pseuds/WorryinglyInnocent
Summary: Belle finds herself in a predicament when her pet gets into Rumpel’s workroom. Rumpel isn’t quite sure what to make of it all.Written for the @a-monthly-rumbelling prompt: “How on earth did you get up there?”
Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Comments: 12
Kudos: 49





	Animal Magnetism

**Author's Note:**

> Imaginary bonus points if you recognise which Disney film Tibbs is from…

“How on earth did you get up there?”

Belle shouldn’t have been surprised by the sight that met her in Rumpel’s workroom when she went in there to clear away the tea things and give the place a quick onceover with a duster. She had been with him long enough and been witness to enough magical mishaps in this very room that nothing should have surprised her anymore. 

She knew this, and yet, on entering the room to find her cat stuck to the middle of the ceiling, her first reaction had been disbelief. 

Tibbs gave a pitiful mew and Belle sighed, hands on her hips. 

“You got yourself into this, you know,” she said, and whilst she had some sympathy for the poor stranded feline, it wasn’t a lot. She’d had to rescue him from an awful lot of scrapes ever since she’d first found him cowering in the corner of her herb garden in the rain, a sad and soggy moggy.

She had no idea where he had come from, but he had settled into a warm spot by the kitchen fire and steadfastly stayed there, despite Rumpel’s efforts to tell Belle that maids did not need pets.

She’d counterargued that she needed someone to keep her company whilst he was away from the castle making his deals, and Tibbs had just continued to purr like a foghorn in his corner. Now he was a permanent fixture. Literally, if his current state was anything to go by. 

Tibbs meowed mournfully again, and Belle sighed. It was impossible not to be moved by his plight, even if it was self-inflicted. The one rule that Rumpel had imposed on Belle’s cat ownership was that Tibbs was never allowed in the workroom for fear of what dangerous magics he might get into. Most of his hair (or fur) raising escapades had resulted from him getting into the workroom and upsetting one potion or another. 

“You know you’re not allowed in here,” Belle continued. 

Tibbs meowed again. This time he sounded impatient; no doubt annoyed that Belle was spending her time lecturing him instead of getting him out of his predicament. She heaved another sigh and went to fetch a step ladder. She knew that Rumpel would never put Tibbs in harm’s way intentionally. She was sure that despite his bluster, he was just as smitten with the new addition to the household as Belle was. All the same, given Tibbs’ precedent for causing chaos, Belle thought that he might have learned by now to keep his workroom slightly tidier, instead of leaving half-finished spells and potions all over everywhere. For all Belle knew, she might have ended up as the one stuck to the ceiling the next time she cleaned in there. 

Returning with the ladder, she set it up in the middle of the room and looked around at the mess of papers and potion vials on the workbench, unsure if the jumble had been caused by Rumpel or Tibbs. She flicked through the papers, looking for something that would indicated what Tibbs was stuck with and whether or not special measures would be needed to bring him down again, but nothing immediately jumped out at her. She’d just have to go up the ladder and hope for the best. 

“I didn’t think that it was possible for cats to make puppy dog eyes,” she grumbled as she reached the top of the ladder and came face to face with her pet, who was looking at her with a doleful expression, begging to be rescued like the poor, helpless kitten that he was. 

Carefully, Belle wrapped her hands around his tabby-striped middle and attempted to lift him away from the ceiling, but his paws wouldn’t budge. That was when Belle noticed the powder. Tibbs had three white socks and one orange, but today, all four had a distinctly purple tinge to them. 

“Oh Tibbs, what have you been walking in now? Rumpel’s going to go spare if he finds paw prints in one of his ingredients.”

She carefully brushed at the purple powder with one finger, bringing the grains up closer to her face to examine them. The powder was shimmering slightly, and it smelt rather metallic. Rubbing it between finger and thumb, she felt it grow warm under her touch. Whatever it was, it was definitely magical, and probably the cause of Tibbs being stuck to the ceiling. What she didn’t know was how he had ended up on the ceiling in the first place. 

She sat down on the top rung of the ladder and looked at Tibbs from all angles, wondering what she could do to assist him. As the distribution of the light against the ceiling changed with her movement, so she saw the trail of shimmering paw prints wending their way across the ceiling and down the opposite wall. Leaning over, she saw them vanish into an upturned box in one corner, and she sighed. 

“Tibbs, you have plenty of other boxes all over the rest of the castle. Why do you have such a fixation with getting into boxes that are in the one place you’re not allowed to go? Is there something particularly special about that particular box? Are none of the myriad other boxes that Rumpel and I have provided for you up to scratch? And what were you doing walking up the wall anyway?”

The powder was obviously some kind of sticking spell, and it had stuck firm once Tibbs had stopped moving. 

“Oh Tibbs.” She began to stroke his head and in spite of his rather precarious position, Tibbs started to purr loudly at the touch, nudging his head into her hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you down in a minute. I’m sure there must be an antidote around here somewhere.”

She made to climb down the ladder again, only for her stomach to sink to her boots with the realisation that the powder she’d had on her fingers had now stuck her hand to Tibbs’ fur. She was stranded at the top of a tall stepladder, stuck to her cat who was stuck to the ceiling. She could only hope that she wouldn’t end up stuck to the ladder as well. 

Belle looked at Tibbs.

“Right, well, we’re in a bit of a pickle now, aren’t we? We’re just going to have to wait for Rumpel to come and rescue us.”

She wasn’t sure what Rumpel’s reaction would be when he found them both on the ceiling, but she hoped that it would give him a good laugh if nothing else. He had not gone far today and had promised to be back before nightfall, and Belle could see the sky beginning to grow darker outside. He shouldn’t be long, but then, Rumpelstiltskin was nothing if not unpredictable and she really didn’t want today to be one of the days where he got side-tracked by something and didn’t come home till midnight. Or the next day. 

Thankfully, just then, there was a puff of inky magic and Rumpelstiltskin appeared in the workroom. He made to stride over to the bench and stopped short just before he crashed into the stepladder. It took several seconds of him staring at the ladder before he thought to look up to the top of it, his face showing utter disbelief. Belle waved guiltily with the hand not stuck to Tibbs.

Finally, he managed to splutter: “How on earth did you get up there?” 

“The ladder, obviously, Rumpel. Unlike Tibbs I don’t possess the ability to walk up walls.”

“Walk up… Oh, for goodness’ sake.” Rumpel snapped his fingers and the trail of paw prints up the wall immediately became clearly visible. He stalked across the room to the box and picked it up, a sweep of his hand pulling all the powder back inside and sealing the lid. “He got into the sticking salts.” 

Rumpel placed the box back on its shelf and looked up at them. “I take it from the fact you’re still sitting pretty up there that you’re also stuck?”

“I’m only stuck because I got stuck to Tibbs whilst trying to unstick him!” Belle protested. “Maybe if you labelled some of your boxes, we wouldn’t have this problem.”

“There should be no need for me to label my boxes, because curious cats and equally curious maids should not be investigating them. Also, unless you propose to teach him to read, I don’t see how labelling the sticking salts will keep Tibbs out of them in the future.”

Belle had to concede that point.

“Still, I suppose I’d better get you both down. I won’t be able to concentrate on anything with a ladder in the middle of the workroom.” With a snap of his fingers, Rumpel vanished and reappeared at the top of the ladder, a few rungs below Belle, startling her. 

“You couldn’t have climbed up it like a normal person?”

“When have I ever claimed to be a normal person?” Rumpel looked affronted by the implication. “I’ve a mind not to unstick you after that.”

“Ah, but just think how infuriatingly irritating I would be, stuck in here all the time with you whilst you were trying to work.”

Rumpel narrowed his eyes and clicked his fingers. Belle’s hand became unstuck from Tibbs at the same time as Tibbs became unstuck from the ceiling with a yowl, and Rumpel held out his hands to catch him before he could fall too far. Rather shocked at this, Tibbs blinked up at Rumpel for a few moments before nuzzling in against his wrist. 

“No. Stop that. You are a pest and an annoyance. Stop it.”

Belle just giggled, and Rumpel glared at her afresh, before vanishing in a puff of smoke and leaving her alone at the top of the ladder. He was still holding Tibbs by the time she had descended, and she observed the pair for a moment.

“You know, anyone would think you were getting attached to Tibbs, Rumpel.”

Rumpel quickly thrust the cat towards her, trying to deny that he’d been stroking him. Belle knew better, but she also knew better than to draw attention to the fact. She leaned in and kissed his cheek.

“Thank you for rescuing us, my brave knight. You know, I think we’ll make a hero of you yet.”

She could tell she’d stunned him when he didn’t make any kind of remark, and Belle left the workroom with Tibbs in her arms and a smile on her face.


End file.
